Legionnaires' disease at Australian hospital kills 1, infects another

Two patients have contracted Legionnaires' disease at a hospital in Australian eastern city Brisbane, with the bacteria found in the hot water system and bathrooms in the facility's east wing on Thursday.

The Wesley Hospital has canceled all admissions and closed its emergency department after a 60-year-old man passed away on Sunday, and a 46-year-old woman was admitted to intensive care.

The man was being treated in the east wing and is believed to have contracted the disease from warm bath water, but the second patient was receiving cancer treatment in the west wing.

Hospital management says more than 200 other patients could have been exposed.

As of now 1,400 patients are being contacted by the hospital, along with 2,300 staff.

Legionnaires' disease, a type of pneumonia, can be caused by breathing in tiny droplets of moisture containing legionella bacteria.

While healthy people are not likely to contract the disease, patients in hospitals are vulnerable to infection, said Matthew Cooper from the University of Queensland.

"It can be found in air-conditioning systems, but these are now routinely tested and monitored under state and federal legislative requirements," Cooper said.

Air conditioning has been ruled out as a contamination source and engineers are working to disinfect the east wing water supply.

Patients have been told not to take showers and wash kits have been distributed.